Online Newsletter
Sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest news and information from publics.bg

News

From Bulgaria

30.08.2013 12:34

Bulgaria Approved the Environmental Impact Assessment of South Stream

At the end of the 4-hour meeting the SEEC unanimously decided to approve the construction of the gas pipeline on Bulgarian territory. The final approval however is within the competence of environmental minister Iskra Mihailova

AUTHOR: publics.bg

© south-stream.info

After intensive 4-hour discussion on August 28, the Supreme Expert Ecological Council (SEEC), attached to the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) concluded that the project for the Bulgarian stretch of planned South Stream gas pipeline complies with the national and European ecological standards.

Representatives of NGOs and Varna municipality also took active part in the meeting. Earlier in July, Varna citizens living in the city’s southernmost suburbs expressed their concerns with noise and dust pollution, as well as protected territory destruction, should South Stream emerge onshore as planned just over a kilometer away from their homes.

Measures and conditions under which the investment intent should be carried out were also among the discussed topics. The feasibility study of Gazprom-led South Stream in Bulgaria, which is expected to cost EUR 3.3 bn, is yet to be presented.

If the environmental ministry gives a decisive green light to South Stream in Bulgaria, the pipeline will cross 11 administrative provinces – Varna, Shumen, Targovishte, razgrad, Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven, Lovech, Vratsa, Montana and Vidin. The Bulgarians stretch of South Stream will be 540 km-long, with a DN 1400 pipe. One receiving terminal will be built at the Black Sea coast where the pipe emerges from the sea, with three compressor stations along the entire length of the pipeline at Varna, Lozen and Rasovo.